By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
An Abuja-based female journalist, Franca Nkong, has narrated her experience at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where police officers fired several canisters of teargas to disperse a crowd on Tuesday, November 18.
Nkong shared her experience in a post on Facebook, accompanied by a photograph. She said it is “a survival picture” and a video of a factional member of the PDP questioning the legality of the party’s elective national convention in Ibadan.
In the post, the broadcast journalist described the situation at the opposition party’s national secretariat as similar to a “war zone.”
She wrote: “This is a survival picture! I have just left the PDP national secretariat, where it has been like a war zone with teargas and gunshots periodically, causing everyone to scamper for safety.
“After recovering from the last teary eyes and tight chest from several canisters of teargas fired simultaneously, I am forced to ask, how did I ever become a journalist and why?”
The post garnered sympathy from some of her Facebook friends, who noted her experience as one of the hazards of the profession, but urged her to stay safe.
It should be recalled that there was a violent clash at the PDP’s national secretariat in Wadata Plaza in Abuja between the two factions of the party on Tuesday.
The faction of the party loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and former National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, as well as the faction led by the newly-elected National Chairman of the party, Tanimu Turaki, both scheduled parallel meetings at the secretariat.
Supporters of both factions were seen around Wadata Plaza premises with placards demanding the sack of the leaders of the other faction.
There was also a heavy security presence in the vicinity to prevent breakdown of law and order. The security operatives fired several canisters of tear gas to disperse supporters of the rival factions of the party when the situation turned violent.
